We took our deck places onboard the ferry-like boat that would take us to Bagan very early in the morning in what would for many of my trip companions be conisdered as a rather long and tiring journey.
I was quite happy with the prospect of sailing along the river Ayeyarwardy for approximately nine hours once I expected to calmly relax whilst sitting on deck and admire the landscape, as well as vaguely imagine the former "classic"way to travel south.
We were the first passengers to go onboard, which was a good thing because we managed to sellect our places on the deck, not having had to go underneath where the places were cosier but the smell from the engines a lot stronger, not to mention the "artificial" breathing provided by the air conditioning.
Right next to our boat a gilded huge one caught everyone's attention. I don't suppose he was the sailing proto-type and simply an adapted boat restaurant.
During the first few minutes all I could see were boats of several shapes and sizes sailing about in their daily routines, but soon sighted the cluster of religious and historical site hill tops with their gilded stupas, which most probably corresponded to the Amarapura, Inwa or Bagain.
The morning breeze was fairly cool, at times even cold, but by 11 it cleared up and the sun started shining strongly, making it almost impossible to stay on the deck area without incessantly drinking something.
We were handed out a lunch box cooked onboard, which despite being very "basic" compared to the meals we had been having until then, was good. I managed to sleep through part of the river course sailing and it wasn't but when we were positioned close to another long boat that I realised there was some problem with the overweight of the boat we were sailing with and part of the excess "furniture" had to be transfered to the other one.
The sun played a few tricks on me making photographing difficult though I still managed to take a few. By the time we reached Bagan, where a few porters were waiting for us onshore I was feeling slightly dizzy and soon realised I was having a sinus crisis, possibly from too much exposure to the sun without any form of protection.
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